15 Microwave Tricks and Recipes That Will Change Your Life

You don’t have to do jail time like Ja Rule to have an epiphany about the joys of cooking with a microwave. As any college student living in a dorm will tell you, a microwave is good for more than just re-heating leftovers. True, you’re not going to win any awards nuking stuff in your microwave oven, but it sure does save you a lot of time and makes for a decent substitute when you don’t have an oven around. Kitchen purists and traditionalists might shake their head in disapproval, but futurist culinary wizards like Dave Arnold think chefs will be using microwaves in the future.

So arm yourself with microwave-safe bowls and plates and try out these tricks—from crisping bacon, scrambling eggs, and frothing milk to making edible cheese bowls, baking a brownie in a cup, and turning out crunchy no-fry potato chips (these are seriously so good). One word of caution before you get to it: microwaves vary in size and power, so it’s best to get to know your own microwave a little better (by peeking through the glass window, for starters) rather than following the specified times to a tee.

Step your microwave game up with these 15 recipes and tricks.

Quickly peel a head of garlic

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 1
How it works: No one likes peeling garlic—it's messy, time-consuming, and the garlic juice (and smell) sticks to your fingers all day long. So what's the trick? Heat a head of garlic in the microwave for about 20 seconds and the cloves will slide right out of their skins, hassle-free. Game-changer.
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Dry herbs in the microwave

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: When it comes to drying ingredients like herbs, we automatically think of an oven. But maybe, what we should be thinking about is the microwave, since it does the same job in a fraction of the time. Just layer washed, dried, and de-stemmed herbs on a paper plate or paper towel and microwave on high in bursts of 30 seconds, flipping the leaves each time. Depending on what herb you're drying, this will take two to four minutes.
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Make scrambled eggs for breakfast in just 3 minutes

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: Let's face it: Eggs made in the microwave will never completely match up to eggs cooked on a stove. But when all you have is three minutes to get breakfast going in the morning, microwaved eggs are a brilliant substitute. Scrambled eggs are the easiest—beat eggs with a little milk and cheese in a coffee mug, sprinkle with salt and pepper (plus herbs, if you're feeling fancy), then zap it in the microwave for a minute and a half, stopping once at the halfway point to stir. If poached eggs are more your style though, that can happen too.
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Make milk foam without a frother or a machine

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: To be honest, the microwave won't single-handedly froth milk for you. But if you fill a jar with milk, halfway or less, and then put in some of your own muscle power to vigorously shake the jar with the lid on until the milk froths and doubles in size (about 30 seconds), then the microwave can carry it from there. Take the lid off, microwave the frothed milk for another 30 seconds, and watch the foam rise to the top and stabilize. Pour the milk into your coffee using a spoon to hold back the foam, then scoop the foam on top and enjoy a café-style latte. Just remember to wipe off that embarrassing foam moustache.
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Make brownies in a mug

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 3
How it works: Of all the great things that can come in a mug, a microwaved brownie has got to be the best. Just mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and cinnamon) in the mug and mix in the wet ingredients (oil, water, and vanilla) until there are no lumps. Then, nuke everything in the microwave on high until the mixture is cooked through, about a minute and 40 seconds (though this might vary slightly depending on your microwave). Microwaveable brownies are perfect for when the sugar craving strikes out of the blue. Just make sure you have ice cream handy.
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Make edible bowls out of parmesan cheese

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 8
How it works: Get ready for some gourmet badassery à la microwave. Make edible cheese bowls to, you know, serve salad in and get everyone talking about how totally creative you are. Getting the first one right is a little tricky—you'll need to get two nesting bowl (to serve as moulds) and spread grated cheese out in a circle slightly larger than the rim of the bowl on a parchment paper on a plate. Cook this on high in the microwave until golden brown and then—working at lightening speed—get the cooked cheese out, flip it over an upturned bowl (with the parchment attached), and press a second bowl over the hot parchment/cheese. Once you get the hang of it, you'll start turning them out like an edible-cheese-bowl factory.
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Make no-fry potato chips

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 6
How it works: If you can slice potatoes to just the right thickness (about an eighth of an inch), these chips will be the most wonderous things ever to come out of your microwave—slightly crinkled and surprisingly crispy, with a sweet, earthy potato flavor. All you have to do is arrange thinly-sliced potatoes in a single layer on a plate and microwave for three minutes at a time, decreasing the power level and flipping the potatoes with each round. Sure, they involve a bit of effort—especially if you don't have a mandolin to slice up the potatoes extra-thin—but think how cool you'll feel biting a hand-cut, homemade, no-fry chip.
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Cook corn on the cob

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: Who would have thought the best way to cook a grill favorite like corn on the cob would be to nuke it in the microwave, husk and all? Not only does it come out sweet and tender, but the husk slides right off, too.
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Make dulce de leche in 15 minutes

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 6
How it works: If you love the taste of dulce de leche but can't be bothered to boil a can of sweetened condensed milk for three to four hours (the standard way to make it), then get your microwave ready. Pour sweetened condensed milk into a large bowl and cook it on medium, stopping every two minutes to whisk it—be careful, this stuff can give you quite the burn. Somewhere around the 10-12 minute mark, the milk will look like it's curdled. That's when you know your dulce de leche is done. Just whisk until it's smooth, then use extreme self control to keep from putting it on everything you eat.
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Get more juice from a lemon or lime by nuking it

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 1
How it works: The next time you're juicing lemons for lemonade or limes for a daiquiri, microwave them for 10-20 seconds, until their skin is warm to the touch. Thanks to some mumbo-jumbo cooking science (in short: heat excites the water molecules making the flesh softer and weaker, which makes the lemon easier to squeeze and the membranes holding the juice easier to burst), you'll get more juice out of your lemons. Just resist the urge to serve your guests a science lesson with their drink.
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Crisp up bacon strips

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 3
How it works: Wouldn't it be nice to start your day with the divine smell of crispy bacon, without having to haul out a skillet or a waffle iron and labor over a stove? Just turn a bowl upside down, set it on a plate and drape your bacon over the top of the bowl. Then cover it with a paper towel (to save your microwave walls from any popping greeze) and slide it into the microwave for about a minute per slice. Most of the unhealthy grease will run down the bowl into the plate and you'll be left with crispy bacon you won't believe came from a microwave.
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Make caramel sauce in the microwave

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 6
How it works: Anyone who swears by homemade caramel sauce is also familiar with its perils. You have to watch over a pot of bubbling sugar-syrup on the stove like a hawk, and even then, chances are your caramel will turn out overdone or burnt. That's why this trick solidifies the microwave's status as the supreme kitchen helper of all time. All you needs is sugar, corn syrup, water, and lemon juice whisked together in a microwave-safe measuring cup. Nuke your ingredients on high for five to eight minutes, until the mixture just begins to turn a light golden color. Then take it out, let it cool a bit, pour in the cream (it'll bubble furiously) and whisk in the vanilla and butter. Voila! Your delicious, thick, gooey, and perfectly-sweet homemade caramel sauce is ready to go.
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Toast nuts in the microwave

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 2
How it works: While it can't be disputed that nuts are best toasted in the oven, it seems like an awful waste to heat up an entire oven and wait for 10 to 20 minutes when all you want are a handful of nuts to add to your morning cereal or dinner salad. That's when the microwave comes in handy. Spread a handful of nuts in a single layer on a plate and zap them for 4 to 8 minutes, stopping every minute to mix them up. They won't turn golden like oven-toasted nuts, but they'll have a similar flavor.
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Steam broccolli and other vegetables without a steamer

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 2
How it works: Many people already know they can steam vegetables in their microwave, but for all those who don't, you've got to try it to see how beautifully it works. It's easy to steam broccoli, carrots, asparagus, green beans, or even something as stubborn as artichoke, all within five to ten minutes.
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Steam clean your microwave with lemons

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 1
How it works: By now, you've crisped up bacon, made scrambled eggs, frothed some milk, cooked caramel, and quite possibly overheated something until it exploded, all in your microwave. Chances are, your microwave is in need of some cleaning and the quickest (and most chemical-free) way to do this is to squeeze and dunk two lemon halves into a bowl of water and microwave it for five minutes. Next, take the bowl out (careful, it's hot!) and quickly wipe down the inside of your microwave. We promise, it'll be quite effortless.
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